The San Francisco Police Department hires Paladin to protect Joe Hsin, a Chinese officer who has angered the Tongs. Unfortunately, Joe would rather die than lose face by accepting Paladin's protection.

Recap

At the Hotel Carlton, Paladin receives a proclamation written in Chinese and calls Hey Boy over to translate it. Hey Boy says that the gunslinger doesn't want to get mixed up in Tong trouble but Paladin insists. He can read all of it and confirms that it's a reward of $1,000 for someone's death, but he can't translate the last bit...

Magruder: You know much about Orientals?Paladin: A little.Magruder: Well, then, you know they ain't like you and me.Paladin: I'm not at all sure that I know that.

Magruder: Now, all the police department can pay you is twenty dollars a day. And, of course, a grand civic funeral if one of them highbinders parts your hair with a hatchet.

Hey Boy: But I think you are--please forgive--a fool to get mixed up in such fatal business.Paladin: Hey Boy, you know what Lao Chai says. "The man who knows he is a fool is not a great fool."

Paladin: Will you take me to Joe Tshin's father?Hey Boy: Now? In the dark of night?Paladin: Now. In the dark of night.Hey Boy: I'm part Oriental. Rather lose face than die. But for you... all right.Paladin: Hey Boy, I thank you for your sacrifice. I'll join you here.

Paladin: Well, it's difficult enough to protect a coward or a fool. But a proud man...

Li Hwa: But what if these people had killed you?Joe Tsin: I would have died with honor.Paladin: There is no honor in a wasted death.Joe Tsin: Perhaps two thousand years from now, your civilization will have learned to understand ours.

Hey Boy: I don't have to wait?Paladin: No. Send a bottle of Chablis up to my room. If I don't come out of there, use it to toast my memory.Hey Boy: I send for rice wine. French wine make me ill.

Loo Sam: You are in the wrong place, perhaps?Paladin: The wrong place for you.Loo Sam: And what is the right place for me?Paladin: San Quentin Prison.

Paladin: Joe, you've been trying so hard to be a two hundred percent American, that you haven't understood what really makes this country. What makes this country is not its great men standing alone trying to do the impossible. It's men of all kinds, large and small, trying to do a job together. Not for their personal honor, but for the honor of their country.